Public confidence in Theresa May's handling of Brexit has plummeted in the last six months, an analysis of social media has indicated.

The Prime Minister's popularity dropped by a half between June and December while anger towards her doubled over the same period.

The study of emotional reactions to Mrs May on Twitter was conducted by data scientists in Belfast.

The experts from Queen's University-based analytics firm Adoreboard used algorithms to translate different types of emotions into an indexed rating system.

The rating score factors in feelings expressed in tweets such as joy, surprise, trust, anger, disgust, fear and sadness.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, left, is greeted by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, right, prior to a meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels on Friday, Dec. 8, 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May, met with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker early Friday morning following crucial overnight talks on the issue of the Irish border

According to the study, Mrs May's rating in June was 42, but by Christmas it had dropped to 20.

The level of anger recorded on Twitter rose from nine to 18 over those six months, while trust over the same period decreased from 35 to 30.

Theresa May in Brussels for Brexit talks

The study involved the analysis of almost 70,000 tweets posted between June 23 and December 26 in connection with the Prime Minister's dealings with Brexit.

Her lowest score came as negotiations stumbled in November. However, anger eased last month when it was announced that UK passports would have blue covers post-Brexit.

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"If the Government, or indeed the EU negotiation team can tap into these feelings, then they could have the advantage of understanding the public mood, discover aspects they knew nothing about, or things that could surprise them."